372 Knight, The Horned Larks of Maine. \o^^ 



from the neighboring New England States it seemed highly 

 probable that it would ultimately be taken in this State. In a 

 letter written in the fall of 1896, my friend, Arthur H. Norton of 

 Westbrook, predicted that the subspecies in question would soon 

 be taken in the State. This prediction was verified by a record 

 in the Maine 'Sportsman' for April, 1897, of the capture of four 

 specimens at North Bridgton, Cumberland County, by J. C. Mead. 

 Some time previously Mr. Mead had written me that he had been 

 looking for Horned Larks in his locality for nearly twenty-five 

 years, but so far his search had been in vain. In March he again 

 wrote that on the 13th he had observed a Hock of about twenty- 

 five individuals running along in the road near his residence, and 

 had secured four specimens which from the lack of yellow mark- 

 ings he was inclined to refer to praticola. These were later sent 

 to Mr. Norton and their identification verified. When I learned 

 these particulars, I resolved to secure the loan of specimens of 

 the genus Otocoris from various collectors in the State with the 

 hopes of discovering more specimens of praticola among them. 

 Sixteen specimens were obtained from seven different sources, 

 and eight of these proved representatives of the subspecies in 

 question, all but one being perfectly typical. Three of these, 

 including the least typical one, were sent to Mr. Brewster in order 

 to be absolutely certain of their identity. 



The Maine specimens of praticola., known to exist in collections 

 are as follows: four taken at North Bridgton, March 13, 1S97, 

 by J. C. Mead. Two of these are males and one a female by 

 dissection, while the fourth is a male by proportions and markings. 

 A pair in the collection of the University of Maine were taken 

 at Bucksport, Hancock County, in the winter of 1886 or 1887 by 

 Alvan G. Dorr. A male taken at Bangor, Penobscot County, 

 March 30, 1887, by Harry Merrill, and at present in his collec- 

 tion, is the earliest Maine specimen whose exact date of capture is 

 known. C. H. Morrell of Pittsfield, Somerset County, has in his 

 collection three specimens taken near his home ; these are a male 

 taken March 29, 1892, a male taken March 27, 1893, and a female 

 taken March 22, 1894. The ovaries of this last-mentioned speci- 

 men were distended to the size of number five shot. A specimen 

 which is seemingly a male was taken at Waterville, Kennebec 



